Health Care Reform Act Question & Answers

2015 March 24

by Sarah Fields

George asks…

Will an employer be penalized for not providing health insurance to someone who is still under their parents?

Under the healthcarereformact an employer with more then a certain number of employees must offer insurance to employees working more then 30 hours a week. What he doesn’t know is if an employee who is still under their parents coverage needs to be offered the insurance? We learned today if an employee doesn’t want it then both the employer and employee are still penalized. But if the employee is already covered by parents is the employer penalized?

If anyone can tell me or point me in the right direction i would appreciate it. My roommates income depends on it. The owner of our restaurant can’t seem to find this information.

Sarah Fields answers:

The Affordable Care Act does not require all businesses to provide health benefits to their workers.

Only if the employer has more than 50 full-time employees, AND does not offer coverage to its workers, AND one of those employees receives a tax credit or sharing subsidy from an Exchange, then the employer must pay a penalty.

If a person is on their parents’ policy, they would not be seeking a tax credit or sharing subsidy from an Exchange. Therefore there would be no penalties.

Ruth asks…

How mcuh will I have to pay for 3 months without health insurance in Massachusetts?

I live in Massachusetts and because of the Massachusetts HealthCarereformact it is mandatory to have health insurance, otherwise you pay the tax penalty. From April to August I was uninsured. I would like to know how much I will have to pay.

Sarah Fields answers:

Last I heard was that the penalty for each uninsured month is 1/2 of the premium that Massachusetts thinks you could have afforded to pay, based on their sliding scale.

Laura asks…

What is socialistic about a bill that requires citizens to purchase something from privately own companies?

Right-wingers love to claim the HealthCareReformact they call Obamacare is socialism. Anybody who makes that claim has no friggin idea what socialism is.

Sarah Fields answers:

It is not socialist, nor is it unconstitutional.

Obama is not a socialist.

There is a mandate that all Americans pay for their social security, and it is taken out of every paycheck. This is no different.

The Supreme Court ruled MANY MANY times that it is perfectly acceptable and constitutional for the government to tax you for a service it provides that you must and will use. You NEED health care, and you USE health care whether you are employed or not. If you get into an accident, an ambulance will come and pick you up and you will be taken to the hospital and treated. That is a service the government provides. It is not unreasonable, nor unconstitutional for the government to require you to pay for it.

The socialist claim is one they use to instill fear and hate against Obama. It has no merits in reality.